I'm still hoping that Google decides to return to their "Don't be evil" motto, but realistically I don't have that much hope. I'm very slowly trying to at least somewhat separate myself from my dependence on Google. I purchased a domain name so I could get my own email address. But I manage it through Google Apps and forward it to my existing gmail inbox. So that's like half a step in the right direction.

Sue them for a trillion dollars and writs and injunctions and the like for fraud, malcious foobaring, and the like. Now you have the attention of a Google lawyer. You don't need a winning case in the long term. As long as any one of your allegations withstands a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, they will find it easier to talk to you than smite you. If you're suing over something like adwords -- essential to Google's business model but fraudulent to its core -- they will have to have you killed rather than set a precedent. But if you just want your personal account back, Google's heart isn't in the fight.

I jumped into Google somewhat early on. But, even by then, I'd already come to appreciate advice like "back up everything" and "don't put all of your eggs in one basket."

I've done my best to make sure that even if I lost all access to the interwebs and all of my machines crashed, it would only be a big annoyance. It might take some time and effort to restore things to the way I like them, but nothing would be "lost".

"My data was intact save for the last thing I'd worked on-a spreadsheet containing a client's account numbers and passwords. It seems that Google's engineers determined this single document violated policy and locked down my entire account. "

I'll tell you this much- if I was a client of this asshole, and found out that he had my account # and password in a spreadsheet that he was storing on a cloud service, I'd cease to be a client right quick.

In the future, no one will own anything. We will all pay to "use" stuff. And it can be taken away at any time for any reason because no one has the time, the patience, inclination or the legal expertise to read the ToS.

If you are relying on online services for everything you do, you are asking for trouble. Those services break. They get hacked. They are not reliable. I feel ZERO pity for this guy other than the fact that Google doesn't have the ability to explain WTF the problem is.

GWSuperfan:"My data was intact save for the last thing I'd worked on-a spreadsheet containing a client's account numbers and passwords. It seems that Google's engineers determined this single document violated policy and locked down my entire account. "

I'll tell you this much- if I was a client of this asshole, and found out that he had my account # and password in a spreadsheet that he was storing on a cloud service, I'd cease to be a client right quick.

I'd say Google did this guy's clients a favor.

What has me a bit confused is how they found this info. Did they look at the contents of the spreadsheet and then freeze the account? Was there something in the file name that alerted them? Do they make a habit of reading the actual contents of work stored in Google Docs? Isn't there some sort of privacy issue to be concerned about here?!?!

Just last night, I logged in to an old gmail account I hadn't checked in a while. I had set it up for a little sideline business I had that I'm no longer involved with. The email address was the name of the business, and that was how the Google account was listed. Until last night. Now, I can no longer list my account under a 'user name' it has to be my real name. Then I was instantly shuffled off into a G+ (is that a thing?) where Google kept prompting me to add my friends and tried to root through my contact list for 'friends' to add. Then It kept trying to get me to start a Google chat. Fortunately, when I initially signed up for that account, I set it up under a fictitious name, and I've never had any contacts on my gmail account.

ZeroCorpse:GWSuperfan: "My data was intact save for the last thing I'd worked on-a spreadsheet containing a client's account numbers and passwords. It seems that Google's engineers determined this single document violated policy and locked down my entire account. "

I'll tell you this much- if I was a client of this asshole, and found out that he had my account # and password in a spreadsheet that he was storing on a cloud service, I'd cease to be a client right quick.

I'd say Google did this guy's clients a favor.

What has me a bit confused is how they found this info. Did they look at the contents of the spreadsheet and then freeze the account? Was there something in the file name that alerted them? Do they make a habit of reading the actual contents of work stored in Google Docs? Isn't there some sort of privacy issue to be concerned about here?!?!

He didn't actually say that the contents of the spreadsheet was what got him suspended. Only that it's the only document Google refuses to give back, and that he needs it because it has all his client info. No explanation for why he would store all of his clients' passwords in a spreadsheet on a Google server, though.

ZeroCorpse:What has me a bit confused is how they found this info. Did they look at the contents of the spreadsheet and then freeze the account? Was there something in the file name that alerted them? Do they make a habit of reading the actual contents of work stored in Google Docs? Isn't there some sort of privacy issue to be concerned about here?!?!

My money is on an algorithm scanning the data that got matched. The same way Google determines what ads to show alongside your inbox. It's all an automated system with no human intervention, so no privacy issue.

TheOmni:I'm still hoping that Google decides to return to their "Don't be evil" motto, but realistically I don't have that much hope. I'm very slowly trying to at least somewhat separate myself from my dependence on Google. I purchased a domain name so I could get my own email address. But I manage it through Google Apps and forward it to my existing gmail inbox. So that's like half a step in the right direction.

"Don't be evil" was just lip service to get legions of geeks to give all their data to Google.

/if you don't back up your data or have an alternative way to contact you - you deserve to get fark'd over

Esroc:I can't understand why anyone would rely solely on the cloud in the first place. Cloud computing is pointless in a world where you can carry all your data on encryptable keychains that keep shrinking.

I don't understand why you have the impress that encryptable keychains keep shrinking?

Please explain the metaphor because I feel ill-educated in this matter.

ZAZ:Sue them for a trillion dollars and writs and injunctions and the like for fraud, malcious foobaring, and the like. Now you have the attention of a Google lawyer. You don't need a winning case in the long term. As long as any one of your allegations withstands a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, they will find it easier to talk to you than smite you. If you're suing over something like adwords -- essential to Google's business model but fraudulent to its core -- they will have to have you killed rather than set a precedent. But if you just want your personal account back, Google's heart isn't in the fight.

DayDreamingD:Esroc: I can't understand why anyone would rely solely on the cloud in the first place. Cloud computing is pointless in a world where you can carry all your data on encryptable keychains that keep shrinking.

I don't understand why you have the impress that encryptable keychains keep shrinking?

Please explain the metaphor because I feel ill-educated in this matter.

Surely if you put all your data on encryptable keychains that keep shrinking then sooner or later they will shrink too small to see, and then you will have lost all your data.

TheOmni:I'm still hoping that Google decides to return to their "Don't be evil" motto, but realistically I don't have that much hope. I'm very slowly trying to at least somewhat separate myself from my dependence on Google. I purchased a domain name so I could get my own email address. But I manage it through Google Apps and forward it to my existing gmail inbox. So that's like half a step in the right direction.

I've only a shred of hope after their latest stunt: Putting their resources in full support of CISPA.

DayDreamingD:Esroc: I can't understand why anyone would rely solely on the cloud in the first place. Cloud computing is pointless in a world where you can carry all your data on encryptable keychains that keep shrinking.

I don't understand why you have the impress that encryptable keychains keep shrinking?

Please explain the metaphor because I feel ill-educated in this matter.

TheOmni:I'm still hoping that Google decides to return to their "Don't be evil" motto, but realistically I don't have that much hope. I'm very slowly trying to at least somewhat separate myself from my dependence on Google. I purchased a domain name so I could get my own email address. But I manage it through Google Apps and forward it to my existing gmail inbox. So that's like half a step in the right direction.

This.

If Google shut down my Apps account I'd certainly be disrupted, but in the end it wouldn't be a huge deal: I'd just switch my DNS MX records over to a different mail provider and keep the same address. My mail backups aren't as up-to-date as I'd like (this is a good reminder) so I need to take care of that.

Paying Google for Apps service also means they are more likely to work with you if something goes horribly wrong; there's no real obligation for support for their free accounts.

Other than mail, everything I store in Google's system is held in primary storage somewhere else, with off-site backups.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't rely on a free third-party service with whom you don't have a SLA for anything mission-critical. Even then, be wary. Anything that would be show-stopping if inaccessible should be handled locally with suitable backups.

So in the end it turns out her spreadsheet contained login info for a client's servers and other online accounts, the client actively worked with her to make this file and put it on google drive. It must have tripped some new anti-hackery initiative where google is reading through your spreadsheets looking for sinister words like 'password'...you know just google's usual trawling through everything you store in their service, reading all your stuff and you know, the usual. Nothing to see here, just google reading your stuff again. No big.

I have nothing on cloud services I don't also have on a hard drive. my huge gmail account is even backed up to a local mailbox. It literally never occurred to me to think of a 'cloud' as a secure reliable store.

TheOmni:I'm still hoping that Google decides to return to their "Don't be evil" motto, but realistically I don't have that much hope. I'm very slowly trying to at least somewhat separate myself from my dependence on Google. I purchased a domain name so I could get my own email address. But I manage it through Google Apps and forward it to my existing gmail inbox. So that's like half a step in the right direction.

A company adopting a motto like "Don't be evil" always puts me in mind of people that say "I'm not racist but..."

FTFA: I had assumed it never happened at all. Sure, it had occurred to me when I had moved my work and memories into the "cloud" that I was relying on other people to keep them safe on their servers. But I figured a company with $50 billion in revenues and the modest aim to "organize the world's information" had to run a tight ship. Anyway, it seemed implicit that in allowing Google to use my data, I could rely on Google to hold on to it-and to give it back.

There is your mistake right there dude. Do not have 100% faith in a commercial entity because you are really nothing to them; especially a company that is doing well and kind of has a vast default customer base thanks to a the Android OS. I will never understand "fanboys". While it doesn't imply he is a "fanboy" of Google, his actions and total faith in Google does. It's no different with Apple. Both have interlinked their services with their products to the point if you become too dependent on the products or services of either company, you are actually giving up and giving to them control over an aspect of your life.

Heck if Apple decides you did something wrong they can disable your iTunes account and you lose the rights to all the music you got through iTunes. Truth is unlike a CD you are not buying the music, just the right to listen to it which they can revoke at any time.

While I understand the concept and convenience of "cloud computing" and its advantages I also understand the downsides, and I would never use anyone's "cloud service" as my primary data storage place for anything. Physical computer storage is just too cheap to buy to be dependent on any company.

TheOmni:I'm still hoping that Google decides to return to their "Don't be evil" motto, but realistically I don't have that much hope. I'm very slowly trying to at least somewhat separate myself from my dependence on Google. I purchased a domain name so I could get my own email address. But I manage it through Google Apps and forward it to my existing gmail inbox. So that's like half a step in the right direction.

It isnt technically legal for a publicly traded company to choose morality over profit, unless showing morality means even greater profit through company image.

Alonjar:It isnt technically legal for a publicly traded company to choose morality over profit, unless showing morality means even greater profit through company image.

Nonsense. I assume you're referring to Directors' Duties? Your interpretation is ridiculously narrow, and invalidated by pretty much every bit of case law imaginable. Directors have a duty of care to shareholders. That is very very very much not the same as an obligation to maximise profit.

GWSuperfan:My money is on an algorithm scanning the data that got matched. The same way Google determines what ads to show alongside your inbox. It's all an automated system with no human intervention, so no privacy issue.

However, you're just guessing.Everyone should assume that anything you give to google can be compromised and read by someone, even if it is just a "Google engineer." Do not store sensitive documents there, or encrypt them if you do.